Quantum Space

Quantum Series, Book 1

By: Douglas Phillips

Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne

High above the windswept plains of Kazakhstan, three astronauts on board a Russian Soyuz capsule begin their reentry. A strange shimmer in the atmosphere, a blinding flash of light, and the capsule vanishes in a blink as though it never existed.

On the ground, evidence points to a catastrophic failure, but a communications facility halfway around the world picks up a transmission that could be one of the astronauts. Tragedy averted, or merely delayed? A classified government project on the cutting edge of particle physics holds the clues, and with lives on the line, there is little time to waste.

Daniel Rice is a government science investigator. Marie Kendrick is a NASA operations analyst. Together, they must track down the cause of the most bizarre event in the history of human spaceflight. They draw on scientific strengths as they plunge into the strange world of quantum physics, with impacts not only to the missing astronauts, but to the entire human race.

©2017 Douglas Phillips (P)2018 Tantor

Good old fashioned hard sf

Lots of great real science background in this one, and with just a bit of science technobabble on top to stretch concept into the real of fiction. The author takes the time at the end to detail which bits are made up nonsense and which bits are accepted science.

The writing is solid, and in fact I appreciated a few places were some standard plot tropes were avoided. If those common paths had been taken -- and there were obvious places to put them -- it would have been a lesser book.

The narration was okay but not great. It wasn't annoying in any way, but the voices weren't really very different from on another and the tone was a little dry. It didn't get in the way of the story, but it did make it a bit easier for the mind to wander and lose track.

Good performance

I liked the performance. It kept me interested. The story was well written and not confusing.

Quantum

Thank you for the introduction to Quantum with a very good storyline wrapped around it.
George

One of the best in a good while

The very beginning is a bit slow. It will make sense and I understand what the author is doing. There is a bit if discovery and confusion projected on the reader. I believe thus is to put you in sync with the characters. You do not start with a God’s Eye view. However if you have an even passing interest in the potential of Quantum Sciences you will quickly be absorbed.

It’s a great book full of great ideas. I found the descriptions of dimensional space we cannot have any sensory concept of very interesting. Nicely done.

Good Science, Good Fiction, Mediocre Writing

The core story itself is enjoyable and interesting. The science and fiction work well together to create a story arc that, for the most part, is engaging enough to make it through to the end.
My problems stem from the actual writing. The characters are awkward, full of cliches and contrived actions/reactions. There is a boilerplate Evil Corporation that is totally inconsequential to the story. And the way certain plot elements play out is totally disconnected with how they would in real life.
I’m also not sure I like the way the author writes women. The author clearly (and, of course, rightly) gives female characters a central place in the story, but they all come across as starry-eyed little birds, their fates too dependent on the ‘grounded and practical’ men.
In summary, and with some regret, I doubt I’ll continue with the series.